LECTURE 



V PON 



AGRICULTURE 



AN» OTHKR 



c^uggesstion^ upon ttu rmt Subject 



BY 



Chas. K. Landis, Esq. 



VINELAND, N. J. 

rKINTKD AT T H fc. OKKIC'E O I • T II IC V 1 N K T. A X 1> WKKKI.Y, 

1866. 



LECTURE 



UPON 



AGRICULTURE, 



AND OTHER 



^n^p^txmx^ nym tht umt ^wbf^^Jt: 



BY 



Chas. K. Landis, Esq. 



VINELAND, N. J. 
Printed at the Office of the Vinkland Wbekit. 
1866. 



LECTURE, 



Deliveked before " The Vineland Agricultural and Horti- 
cultural Society," March 3d, 1865. 



I HAVE taken what is the most interesting subject to us, that 
of Agriculture. I am not going to tell you what Hesiod, the 
elder Cato, Virgil, or George "Washington have said upon the 
subject, as that has been done to death by the eloquence of 
young lawyers and others, who usually try to edify the minds of 
farmers at State Fairs, or at least soothe them to a gentle 
slumber. For this you have, no doubt, been often enough under 
obligations. I am going to take you upon entirely a new course, 
trusting that what I say will be at least practically instructive, if 
not very magniloquent. 

It has formerly been a popular opinion that farmers require 
no sense. Some of the old style farmers of the present day 
even scoff at what they call book-learning, and which probably 
first gave rise to this strange idea. The worthy and sleepy old 
subjects, to enjoy the delusions of a prejudice, would place them- 
selves upon a level with the beasts. So strong was this prejudice 
that until within a recent period boys of bright parts were always 
reserved for the professions or trades, and the stupid were placed 
upon farms. The pubhc school system, in opening the mind of 
youth, has enabled it to recogni'ze the Creator's law of progres- 
sion in all the products of the farm and orchard, as well as in 
the arts and sciences. This general education has refined the 
natm-al instincts of the present generation to such a degree that 
they have at length come to the conclusion that Agriculture is 
not only susceptible of improvements, but that the mind of the 
farmer is as well entitled to the enjoyment of a refined intellec- 
tual culture as that of the lawyer or clergyman. 

How marvellous is the influence of education; how far it 
extends the intellectual vision; how it strengthens the human 



mind, and awakens an inner knowledge of its forces. It brings 
to life new aspirations, that must be gratified — a sense of the 
useful and the beautiful; it transforms a block of marble into an 
Apollo ; it chains the Hghtning to its car of triumph. Without 
education man is as a little child. His wants are few, his mind 
is capable of no combinations, he has no aspirations after knowl- 
edge, the unknown, or the beautiful. With the morning comes 
labor, with the night comes sleep, and death leaves no mark of 
his former existence. Such a mind as this will naturally misun- 
derstand principles of improvement and despise them ; such a mind 
is satisfied with the Dead Sea of stationary hfe ; such a mind is 
worthy of that isolated and dreary existence of the farmer's life, 
such as we see it in many parts of the land. An unimproving 
country is as agreeable to him as any other. A hog-pen or dung- 
hill in the front of his door is more pleasant to his eye than a 
rose. But when you wave over the slumbering soul, the magic 
wand of education, it awakens to another state of existence, 
which ^vill not be satisfied with the last named condition. The 
genius of ambition, a taste for the creative power, a longing 
after the unknown, and knowledge, are aroused ; and this energy 
m\ist find an outlet — a gratification, or its power may be destruc- 
tive, and lead to bad results instead of good. 

To meet this new condition of mind, produced in the present 
generation by the influence of education, we must have a new 
state of surroundings ; agriculture must go hand in hand with 
science and art. The profits and beauties of horticultm-e must 
be combined with it. The whole conducted upon principles of 
taste which will make the humblest farm not only a place of 
livehhood, but a home of beauty, with its garden of flowers, 
made musical by the songs of birds, upon spacious roads shaded 
by the verdure of trees, and that lead dii-ectly to the academy^ 
to the mart, to halls of intellectual entertainment, or parks of 
rustic pleasure. A country must be created where an improved 
system of agriculture and horticulture will be followed ; where 
a public system of adornment will spread a pervading beauty 
over the land; where the green and flowering hedge will take 
the place of the skeleton fence; where institutions of learning 
and art will be founded equal to the wants of refinement, and 



5 

where there will be a never-ceasing competition for excellence. 
A country where the selfishness of man has not been allowed to 
take up large tracts of land, to the isolation of his neighbors, 
" but where the farms are small and redolent with cultivation ; 
where the manufacturer stands alongside of the agriculturalist ; where 
wealth may rapidly be created to answer the demands of a more 
refined taste; where the religious and moral atmosphere, without 
being bigoted, is pure ; where liberal sentiments and human 
brotherhood and sisterhood "vvill take the place of that savage 
and heartless nature that lurks in the dark recesses of ignorance. 

Is this a fancy picture, the imaginings of the "mind diseased," 
or is it practical ? Are the principles I have mentioned untrue ? 
or do you at once recognize ^he expectation of your own hearts 
— your work of every day. 

In the founding of this colony, I have pursued a system 
demanded by an educated class of minds. The physical face of 
the country has been laid out with this view, and a pohcy adopted 
which, with your co-operation, is bringing it about with a rapidity 
never before experienced ; proving conclusively, that it is no 
picture of fancy but a glorious reality. It answers a new want 
in the world, and in three or four short years, to say nothing of 
the present, you will become a mark of interest and attraction 
wherein these features will be fully recognized. That the time 
may not appear short, let me call to your minds that three short 
years ago, this was an unbroken wilderness, without a house. — 
You now number five thousand people, with the proportion of 
increase enlarging every week. You have churches erected, 
societies of art, of music, and numerous schools. The buildings, 
in completeness and beauty, surpass older places ; your 100 
miles of roads are becoming lined with shade trees ; having 
done away -with fences, you are adopting hedges. Already the 
place has become one of wonder and remark for its surpassing 
beauty ; what will it be in a few years hence ? Every day, new 
combinations and enterprises are being started. Stores, Facto- 
ries, Academies, Societies — not less than 500 vineyards and 
orchards have been planted. In fact, I am safe in saying, that 
more fruit has been set out in Vineland, than in any part of the 
United States upon the same area of land. How sweet and 



fragrant will be the air with these gardens and orchards. Even 
♦^^he present year their produce will add to the wealth of the 
country, and their beauty will adorn it. My previous remarks 
■are pertinent to the subject, as Agriculture will be peculiarly 
effected by the character of our people and the influence of this 
peculiar improvement in Vineland. 

Since the great progress made in the Science of Agriculture, 
within the past fifty years, it has become a lecognized principle 
that the more produce that is raised, in proportion to the amount 
of land worked, the greater are the profits ; that is, if you can, by 
more thorough culture, raise as much from 40 acres as by ordinary 
culture from 100 acres^ it has been found that the profit upon 
actual outlay of expense, though much greater to the single acre, 
upon the aggregate is from 50 to lt)0 per cent. more. The whole 
thing is explained in the fact, that you always find a prosperous, 
money-making farmer with well-cultivated fields and a large pile 
of manure. 

Twenty-five years ago. Agriculture in England was in about the 
same condition as in this country at the present day. Societies of 
experiment and investigation were then organized by some of the 
most scientific men and largest landholders in the country. The' 
result has been that the production of crops has been doubled. 
"Where they formerly obtained from 15 to 20 bushels of wheat to 
the acre, they now average from 40 to 50. Where they foimerly 
cut from 1 to 2 tons of hay to the acre, they now cut from S to 5. 
The increase of all other crops has been in proportion. Farming 
has been reduced to a crop-producing, money-making Science, and 
with such a degree of success that the renters of farms have 
become enormously rich. They pay from $25 to $75 per acre 
rents each year, and become in a short time worth fortunes of a 
half million of dollars, and yet the price of produce in the London 
market is about the same as in Philadelphia or New- York. The 
tenants ahvays work and improve their lands better than the actual 
owners. When you see a fiirm loaded with its rich crop of grain 
or grass, you may at once knov/ that the farmer is a tenant. If you 
see a place a little below par, you may be satisfied it is occupied 
by the owner of the soil. Why is this ? Because the tenaojt must 
make his money out of increased production, in order to pay his 



rent and find his profit. The owner is not under so great a neces- 
sity. In tlie United States the reverse is the case. The ignorant 
tenant, who thinks liiniself a farmer, endeavors to make his money- 
by skinning the kind, robbing the soil, and seUing his manure, and 
in nine cases out of ten you will find his poverty to equal his 
ignorance and ciufiidity. How has this great change been brought 
about in England { By the following practice : 

1st. Deep plowing and thorough harrowing'. 

2d. Hoot crops for stock. 

od. Soiling stock. 

4th. Liquid manure. 

5th. Under draining. 

It has been laid down as a principle, and ascertained by the reg- 
ular course of results in nature, that a plant will grow and thrive 
in proportion as its roots can ramify and penetrate the earth, and in 
proportion to the extent of surface of the roots that are in contact 
with the fine particles of the soil. You people who plow shallow 
and cut and cover, or who plant grape-vines too closely together at 
the instigation of designing nurserymen, bear this in mind. The 
atmosphere in England is much more moist or humid than in this 
country, and deep plowirg is not so much required as in any part 
of the United States, yet they go twelve inches deep, and v\^here 
they plant root-crops they run the sub-soil plow through besides, 
and afterwards harrow the land three or four times for tlie sake of 
pulverization. This enables the roots to ramify and penetrate the 
soil, and brings the largest amount of root-surface in contact with 
the particles of the earth and protects it from the drouth by facili- 
tating capillary attraction. Our own past experience during the 
drouth of last summer confirms this theory. Where the land liaa 
beeii well plowed, the crops were invariably good. But in too 
many instances, especially upon new land, I noticed that it was 
plowed scarcely three inches deep, and some of it not touched. 
I think the Lord must have mercy upon the ignorance of many 
people, and do their fiirming, otherwise they would raise nothing as 
they appear to violate the palpable laws of nature. Deep plov/ing 
and thorough pulverization Avill enable any person to get a large 
crop, drouth or no drouth, or Ashether the land is new or old. 
I have repeatedly produced large crops upon perfectly new land by 



this process imperfectly carried out ; and I no-w stake my judg- 
ment and veracity that by this system the new land at its first break- 
ing up will produce a crop of Irish or Sweet Potatoes which will 
pay a hundred dollars per acre profit, over and above all expenses. 
In England some good farmers have contended that all land required 
was deep plowing, thorough pulverization and harrowing to pro- 
duce, without the use of fertilizers. When you hire a team to plow 
your land, do not bargain as to the quantity of land to be run over, 
but the way it is to be done. 

The next question was how to increase the meat producing capac- 
ity of the country without encroaching upon the land reserved for 
crops. This became of vital importance, as it was found that the 
price of meat increased with population, the same as we now ex- 
periece, until it was beyond the reach of the poor. They took to 
raising root crops — turnips, carrots, and field beets. The farmers 
at once experience a change. Their purses began to grow heavy, 
their manure piles large, and yet their stock increased to that extent 
that prices fell one half. After years of experience, it was found 
that the same amount of land in root crops v/ould support six times 
the amount of stock, providing they were soiled, than the same 
amount of land in pasture. Is this not startling ? And yet, out- 
side of Vineland, how few soil their cattle, or raise root crops. 
Anybody can keep a cow, who will well cultivate a half acre of 
root crops. They make better milk, and what is not to be despised, 
their manure is twice as fertilizing as that from hay. That great 
composter, the Pig, how he enjoys these things ! He gives a more 
grateful grunt and his tail a double twist, whenever he gets them. 
It will be found profitable to steam or boil all roots fed to stock 
and better for fattening and health. It keeps stock in the finest con- 
dition. Every out of the way spot, every corner, every particle of 
your land, not otherwise occupied, should be in root crops. Tur- 
nips in the fall. Turnips last fall were sown in the roads, over the 
corn fields, around the buildings, and even in the stump holes. — 
They brought hundreds of dollars into the place, and now every 
day settlers feel the benefit of this piece of advice, which I marked 
in a number of Tribunes, and sent down here last summer, Avhilst 
on a trip to the mountains. Our thanks to the Tribune. Only 
second to this in advantage, it was found more profitable to soil 



stock, instead of exposing them to the wind and weather of the 
open air. It is estimated that either in hay or root crops they can 
be supported for one-half the cost, whilst their manure is saved. — 
The value of the manure from one cow fed upon root crops, for one 
year at a moderate sum, is $25 ; if you attempt to buy it, $50. It 
also improves the stock in size and weight, and affords mercy to 

our teeth it makes it tender. Oh, what horribly tough beef we 

get. Would to providence that our Jersey neighbors would adopt 
this most profitable change, that they might no longer sell our hon- 
est dealers their dreadfully tough beef. The milk is better, and 
cows will yield from one-third to one -half as much more. 

In Vineland the sale of milk is so profitable, that any one can 
affjrd to buy feed, Avhere they house their cattle, until they raise 
their own produce. Several years ago, the largest farmer in the 
State informed me that he cut his grass and fed it to his cattle in 
their stables on account of this great economy and improvement. 
In Bavaria and Saxony, the land is divided into small ownerships 
of from three to. five, and sometimes ten acres. Upon this popu- 
lation largely increased, and it became necessary to double the 
amount of produce. How Avas this to be done ? They used deep 
plowing ; they soiled their cattle, and when it was necessary they 
underdrained. As it was, the country was a perfect garden. They 
tried the application of liquid manure, and solved the problem. 
They increased the productiveness of their soil a hundred per cent., 
and improved their vegetation without increasing the cost or labor. 
An easy method is to have a hogshead or barrel with a hole at the 
bottom. Throw in the manure from the pig-pen or stable-yard, 
and then pour in water and let it run through the manure into a 
bucket or other receptacle. Water costs nothing. It is only neces- 
sary to run it through the manure and you have all the rich and 
fine particles, and when you apply it, the roots of the plant are at 
once reached in a form whereby they absorb the nourishment. — 
The solid part remaining can be applied to the land. This liquid 
manure can be used from an ordinary can, or you can mount a 
barrel on wheels, and by an ordinary apparatus, which you can 
have applied, you can throw it over the ground as it is drawn 
between the rows. This was soon introduced in England and 
appHed upon root crops with wonderful success. It was then 



10 

applied upon grass crops and found to double the effect of an 
ordinary dressing of manure. Remember, water costs nothing. 
And the difference between applying the manure, one way or the 
other, out of a cart or a barrel, is almost nothing. People have 
frequently been astonished at the size of some of the vegetables 
they have seen at Agricultural Fairs. They see that they surpass 
the ordinary laws of vegetation, and they are unable to account for 
it. A mammoth pumpkin, or water-melon, or cabbage, may well 
open the eyes of gaping ignorance. The secret is in the use of 
liquid manure ; and another secret is in the method of its applica- 
tion. It should not be poured around the main stalk of the plant, 
but over the surface of the earth in its vicinity. The main stalk 
only sends out feeders that take up the nourishment. By examining 
the ground you will find these tender fibres shooting out fifteen feet 
from a large watermelon or pumpkin vine, and eight feet from a 
corn stalk. In short, the roots and fibres ramify as far as the surface 
vine. This also teaches a lesson as to what a poor chance a plant 
stands on poorly plowed land. Some large prizes are now offered 
by our Agricultural Society for certain productions. I will venture 
to say that every prize will be taken by those who use liquid 
manure. 

Through certain districts of country in the midst of farming 
communities were large tracts of bog land, peat land or swamp — 
these were covered by an entangling mat of briars and Avood, 
attesting the richness of the deposit, frequently consisting of humus 
from one to five feet deep. Farmers would secure some of its 
virtues by carting it into the barn-yard, but for years no other 
measures were taken to secure its wealth ; until, during the com-se 
of this agricuhural progress made in England, they tested the 
virtues of under-draining. By cleaning out the water-courses, and 
setting drains thirty feet apart and two feet below the surface of the 
soil, these swampy places were dried up, and their almost boundless 
fertility was at the hand of the enterprising farmer. It was found 
to produce vast results. From a careful calculation of these results, 
I can safely estimate the value of one acre of swamp land, well 
drained, at $500 in gold. So large were the results that the 
Government of England took the matter in hand, and loaned its 
money to farmers to be expended in under-draining. It more 



u 

than doubled the wealth of the farmers, after paying back to the 
government the loan. It was soon found out that the chemical 
action of the atmosphere upon the soil was so beneficial to plant 
life, that it would pay to under-drain heavy clay lands. From 
England the improvement has extended to this country. I hope 
in a few years to see every acre of low land about Vineland sur- 
rendering its wealth to the proprietors by this cheap and expe- 
ditious process. 

In order to be happy and prosperous, to obey the influences of 
education upon your own natures and that of your children, you 
must improve as you live, make agriculture a mental as well as a 
manual labor, and cultivate it as a science. You could not have 
soil better suited to raising the most profitable products in this 
market. There is no climate in the Union where can be produced 
a greater variety of fruit and vegetables. There is no market in 
the Union where they Avill command a higher price. This wonder- 
ful aggregation of talent and experience here in Vineland, is every 
man's advantage. He who cannot trim a vine or fruit tree, can 
learn from his next door neighbor, and then he can trim a hundred 
thousand. You might settle in many places and not have a neigh- 
bor within a hundred miles of vou whose knowledsje would so 
much beyond hog and corn. People who are educated must make 
money. They must have corresponding surroundings and enjoy- 
ments. This you are accomplishing every day. It is with this 
view that I have provided a general system of public adornment 
or beauty ; and that we are bringing here the best schools and 
developing the highest elements of a refined civilization ; and now, 
while we are upon the subject of reform and improvement, let us 
not forget the part that women is to play in agriculture. Why 
should she not throw the magic of her sympathy, her co-operation 
and elegance around this as well as any other subject ? Women are 
entitled to reform as well as men. If they do not leave oflf thin 
shoes, and take more exercise in the open air, they will all die out 
and le.ive us by ourselves. We run the risk of losing another rib, 
and the Lord in reforming the trouble, may give man another help- 
mate, who, instead of being the weaker, will be the stronger sex, 
and who may despoil you of your sovereign unmentionables, and 
set you to washing dishes and darning old stockings. Every mar- 



18 

ried man with a sorrowful wail declares that something ought to be 
done — he don't know what ; while I have heard some incorrigible 
bachelors declare, with a Avant of taste and tenderness horrible to 
think of, that they would get married if they could find a woman. 
I am none of that class ; my excuse is personal homeliness and a 
want of time. I have always defended Avoman against the com- 
plaints of husbands and vile old bachelors. I admire their beauty, 
their foUies, their weaknesses, their virtues, their tenderness to the 
sick, and often their sublime submission to misfortune and the 
tyranny of man, and am willing to take to their welfare my oath 
of eternal allegiance. I consider it every woman's duty to make 
herself look beautiful whether it is by false hair, false teeth, or that 
taste in di'ess which is so exquisite, as Avell as the arts therein which 
go so fiir to make up for the deficiencies of nature. Why should 
we not feel grateful to her for pleasing the eye, notwithstanding the 
growlings of those unnatural monsters, — their husbands, — who 
expect their Avives to be angels, Avhilst they are — hardly as good 
as they ought to be. If I have anything to propose to the ladies 
in the way of beautifying their forms, heightening their com- 
plexions, and increasing their vltaHty, that is a private matter 
between myself and them, and should be nobody's objection as long 
as it doe5 good. I do know an art of beauty that is inflillible. It 
will take the place of rouge, and give a rosy complexion, and that 
is working— ^pardon me — exercising out in the garden, Avith the 
hoe, the rake, the pruning-shears ; doing those most valuable and 
indispensable things that Avill fill the purse with money and add 
more to the health than any medicine, and perform more miraculous 
cures than any male or female doctors. Let this become fashionable 
in Vineland, and the ladies Avill all continue to be beautiful. Bach- 
elors will try to get married and husbands Avill be satisfied. They 
Avill cease to growl at the ailments and Avant of beauty in their 
Avives. Oh, that I had the poAver to persuade the ladies to do this 
thing ! Let them throAv prejudice, as Avell as "physic to the dogs." 
AVhy should they not in Vineland practice common sense and good 
taste, and do as they please ? This ought to be one of Avoman's 
rights. Let them all adopt it, and it Avill become one of the 
greatest reforms of the place. Why should they not equal the 
most aristocratic ladies in England ? They do it for theh health 



IS 

and beauty. They can often be seen in their gardens working 
away with the rake and hoe, whilst the American seamstress with 
her thin shoes and attenuated form would blush to be seen at such 
an occupation. I have often been amazed to see the number of 
ladies, in Philadelphia and New York, nursing poodle dogs — large 
poodles, small poodles, some without any hair, and all sorts of 
dogs, and on one occasion even an immense rat. They are generally 
married ladies. Being a bachelor, I could not account for such a 
progeny, but some how or other I have thought that thin shoes, 
bad air, and no work, have had something to do with it. No 
wonder ! Why should God trust to their health the raising of 
beautiful children? If any lady in Vineland lacks the moral 
courage to do her duty in this reform, let her join the Floral 
Society. The most aristocratic waiting-maid in the country feels 
flattered with the suspicion that she cultivates flowers. Then why 
cannot a lady have a rose-bush near a row of cabbages, and when 
anybody comes along hoe the rose-bush, and when they turn their 
backs hoe the cabbages — who will know the difference ? 

Aside from this, the Floral Society is now organized. For suc- 
cess it depends exclusively upon the ladies, and I sincerely hope 
that they will all show their good taste and public spirit by joining 
it. You will no doubt appreciate the liberaHty of one feature I 
have recommended, and that is that no gentleman shall belong to 
it but myself. 

In following out the principles of our place, there is one feature 
about the most important of all, so far as ornament and profit are 
concerned. Every five and ten acre lot, and every other for that 
matter, should have connected with it a convenient and well-con- 
structed hot-house. This will enable you to have the earliest and 
the latest of produce for the market. Also, to raise fine Hamburg 
grapes, which will sell for two dollars a pound. You can then 
propagate your own plants, and need buy nothing of this kind in 
the spring. The entire work can be done by ladies, and might well 
be termed Winter-farming. At the cost of three or four hundred 
dollars, every house can have one. And you can readily sell out 
of it several thousand dollars worth of produce a year, after paying 
all expenses. There is a field for skill and industry, at a time 
when there is a suspension of other occupations, added to summer 



14 

work, wliich would make every family wealthy. At my suggestion, 
it was followed, in several instances at Hammonton, with all the 
success anticipated. These persons have become well-off. Let it 
be done here thoroughly and extensively — here, where we will 
soon have a well organized system of converting all produce into 
cash within a few hours. I look upon this as a most important 
feature. It should be a subject for the attention of the Agricultural 
Society. 

You all have a noble object before you. You are seeking inde- 
pendence in the only certain and truly philosophical way — ^in the 
repose and quiet of a self-supporting and beautiful home. Whether 
we are worth hundreds or millions, we can obtain nothing more 
than this ; and no matter what our wealth, — actual bi'ow-sweating, 
or brain labor is essential to our happiness. Never let us think 
that independence or wealth, because there is a great difference, 
are the privilege of idleness. This is unworthy of our manhood 
or duty, and incompatible with our happiness. The proprietor of 
five acres, who makes his living upon it and adorns it, possesses all 
that an Astor can obtain,, and I have no doubt is a happier man. 
To meet with success in this pursuit, wherein a man is his own 
master, is subject to one unvarying law and condition, and that is 
systematic and intelligent labor. I mean by this that a man must 
work for himself as long and as perseveringly as he will work for 
another. He can soon ascertain whether he has within himself the 
sovereign principle of self-control or not. Let him lay down for 
hunself, from one week to another, a certain and defined amount 
of daily labor. If he does it he is a true sovereign. His place 
will soon be cleared and smile with beauty under the hand of 
industry. He will raise large crops ; he will have fine fruit ; he 
will grow in wealth and prosperity ten times as fast as if he had 
worked for another, because it will be all his own. But if he finds 
he cannot do this; that he must have at his back the spur of 
another man's authority to enable him to get through with a day's 
work, then let him sell his place and hire his services to another, 
as it is not the land that is difficult to clear, nor the soil to produce, 
but it is a fatal defect in his own nature, or education, which marks 
him for life as a dependent. We often find people who do well 
for others, whilst they can do nothing for themselves ; and those 



15 



.ho can do for .he^nsel.es that which they --»' J;7;^J^ 
others. It is a law of nature. Both etas are to be r.spected. 



others. - 

But man must learn himself, 



tatt(lai[d c#i(|lJi foil ^ai[miiijg : 



USEFUL TO BEGINNERS. 



A small form should be laid out with a view to have a certain 
proportion of the same in garden and fruit culture. There should 
be a variety of fruit, in order that the picking and marketiug can 
be going on the entire season. The same principle should be 
applied to the garden. 

It is preferable that fruit should not be planted too closely together, 
but far enough apart to admit of a row of vegetables being culti- 
vated between. This ensures the culture and manming of land 
where fruit is planted. 

As a rule, three-fourths of a ten or twenty acre farm should be set 
to fruit in the foUoAving order : 1st, strawberries; 2d, raspberries; 
3d, blackberries ; 4th, peaches, nectarines, and apricots ; 5th, 
apples and pears ; 6th, grapes. These come in regular rotation 
throughout the season. Amongst these trees ordinary crops of 
potatoes, tomatoes, cabbages, carrots, parsnips, and others, can be 
set out. Fruit trees must be regularly wormed and pruned, and 
the small fruit thinned out before ripening, otherwise they will not 
thrive. Grain or grass should never be allowed to grow amongst 
them. The proUt of vegetable culture depends upon the articles 
raised. Those that pay the best profit in Vineland are asparagus, 
tomatoes, sweet potatoes, cabbages, lima beans, and early turnips. 
Others are also profitable, but those mentioned are the easiest cul- 
tivated and to the greatest degree profitable. The most important 
considerations in their culture, is in having them the earliest and 
the latest ; for this reason every farm should have its forcing-bed 
under srlass. 



18 

Success in farming depends upon thorough culture and the 
economical management of the farm. Under the first head is em- 
braced the cultivating and manuring of the crops. 

Land for gardening and fruit purposes should be plowed very- 
deep, from 12 to 18 inches, and betAveen the rows a sub-soil plow 
should be run ; this loosens the earth and the roots, prevents 
drouth, and affords the plants the greatest degree of nourishment. 
The harrow and rake should then be constantly used for the entire 
season in keeping the surface perfectly loose, more especially in dry 
weather. A good harrowing may be pronounced equal to a rain in 
its influence upon plants. Everything should be planted in straight 
rows, to afford the freest use of the plow and harrow. Land 
should be well manured, as manuring affords returns to the full 
extent that it is found profitable without labor. The best farmers 
make it a rule to manure as far as they find it will pay\ 

No manui-e need be bought, and every place can have a full 
supply of the best in the world by observing the following rules : 
1st, have a sink or large water-tight box under the privy, and into 
this throw dirt, muck, charcoal bottoms, or an)' kind of absorbent ; 
have running into it a conducting pipe or gutter from the kitchen, 
that all the waste water, chamber-ley, and soap-suds, may be run 
into this sink, saturating the dut and muck completely, and dissem- 
inating amongst it the privy manure ; then empty it out once or 
twice a week. If a portable box is made for the sink upon wheels, 
it will be found to add much to convenience and save handling. 
It should be large enough to hold two cart loads. This process 
makes the best manure in the world, and the cheapest. Any 
ordinary family can make 75 or 150 loads of this manure per 
annum by attending to this simple process. The gardeners around 
New York and Philadelphia have found privy manure by flu- the 
best ; in some instances spreading it over the surface of the ground 
from buckets, for which they buy thousands of loads. The writer 
of this article has composted hundreds of loads of manure by the 
above process, and has always found that it produces the largest 
veo-etables, and the greatest growth for plants. An ordinary family 
and the waste from an ordinary house, can make as much manure 
under this process as can be made by five horses. To get a great 
growth of plants, -vratering with liquid manure produces the 



19 

greatest results. In order to obtain this conveniently, bore holes in 
the sides of a barrel, and set it in the corner of your sink, or have 
a drain from one corner of your sink, into a barrel. This use of 
liquid manuring has been found the most profitable method ; near 
the large cities it is done extensively; they use a barrel upon 
wheels, from which they have a spout in the bottom, and wheel it 
between the rows. Solid manure is reserved more particularly for 
the grain crop. This system has been adopted in Saxony and Bel- 
gium, where farming and gardening has become an advanced 
science. This is the way to produce mammoth vegetables for the 
fairs, and, in short, a mammoth crop of any kind. 2d, buy a cow : 
a good one of the best stock. If your plaee is new, it will pay 
well to buy the feed of a cow for the sale of the milk, which will 
readily sell, and the manure she makes. It also ensures the profit- 
able consumption of many things upon a place which are unmar- 
ketable. . 3d, buy two pigs that will breed, of the best Chester 
County, Pennsylvania, or Burlington County, New Jersey, stock. 
During the growing season they will consume any refuse offal, and 
make an immense quantity of manure ; for this they should be 
supplied with ample quantity of leaves, muck, dirt, — which they 
root over and thoroughly compost ; muck is better when attainable. 
They should be Avell supplied with litter and dirt, and have a well- 
arranged pen in which they will find some protection from bad 
weather. 

The economical management of a farm consists in following that 
great principle of nature to allow nothing to go to waste. That 
which is not saleable should make manure. Every leaf, stalk, cob, 
or decaying vegetable, should be thus preserved. Weeds should 
never be allowed to grow, as they deprive the plant of the strength 
of the land. Killing out the weeds is a benefit to the crop, also, 
in cultivating the land. 

Tools should be of the best kind, and always kept in good 
condition. 

The next great principle in the management of a farm, as in 
other things, is to realize upon what you raise. Gather everything 
in season, and assort the articles, in a manner to present the best 
appearance, and sell them. Fruits should be neatly assorted 
in boxes adapted to the purpose. The owner always bear- 



ing in mind that appearance in such thing is one-half the battle. 

Buying your trees — in this, there are many hidden roads of dan- 
ger ; make it a rule to buy of no nursery agents, but get your 
articles at the nursery, and select your trees. There is more 
swindling by nursery agents than any other class of people, except 
the manufacturers of patent manures. There are a few difficulties 
in buying of agents which we will mention. 

1st. Their charges are enormous ; three times the legitimate price, 
under the plea that it is cheaper for you to buy a good article than 
a poor one. 

2. Often being persons who have no connections with any 
nursery, in order to fill their fall orders, they buy the refuse stock 
of old nurseries for a mere trifle, and put these upon you at their 
exhorbitant figures, and unless you are versed in trees, you will 
take them. In place of straight, strong trees, clean in the bark 
and healthful, you will be served with spindling, crooked trees and 
miserable roots that had better be thrown upon the brush-heap and 
burned than planted. 

3d. The varieties are not what you order; they profess to have 
all varieties, and then will serve you with anything. 

4. They always profess to have some new and extraordinary 
variety of tree, vine, or berry, which they sell at an immense price 
under some new name. Thousands of dollars have been made by 
such humbugs. Have nothing to do with them. Buy nothing but 
old and established varieties. In making these i-emarks about 
agents, we wish to be understood that we do not say all nursery 
agents are swindlers. Some are responsible people. But when you 
buy your trees, buy them of some person or some place that you 
can make responsible if they are not what you bargained for, and 
not nursery foot-pads running about the country, and who after- 
wards can never be found. 

Buying Manure. — The safest manure to buy is lime, marl, 
ashes, stable or privy manure, when obtainable. Some phosphates 
and bone dust are excellent, and for this you have to depend upon 
the testimony of those that have used it to know which you should 
buy. A good plan would be for a number of persons to form a 
club, and send a member to Philadelphia to purchase a large 
quantity of privy-manui-e and plaster. Old hogsheads and barrels 



21 

can be bought, and by mixing one-half privy-manure and one-half 
plaster, it will bear transportation. The manure, in a pure state, 
costs about one dollar and a half a load, and one load of it is equal 
to a ton of phosphate, or anything you will buy. This is a practi- 
cal way to get a quality of manure, which, in its returns, will pay 
five hundred per cent, upon its cost. 

1. Where you intend to follow farming instead of gardening and 
frait-raising, let it be your first care to seed your farm down to 
timothy and clover until the roots rot out. Be carefid to use the 
coarse northern clover, as it is best for this purpose. New land 
has to be seeded much more thickly than old land. Whilst the 
ground is in clover, you can raise stock until the grubs rot out. 
Under this process, after the ground has been in clover two years, 
the third year it will plow up a rich, mellow loam, and will be 
suitable for anything. When you first take a new place, grub an 
acre of land upon which to raise all your vegetables for family use, 
and also to plant fruit-trees. 

2. In cultivating your land, divide it into four or five fields, so 
that as you plant corn or potatoes, you can always turn down a 
clover sod in rotation. These crops requiring no other manure ,• and 
whenever you sow wheat, rye, or buckwheat, seed the lots to grass. 
It is a good plan, and practised by many, to sow clover ,and timothy 
amongst the corn, at the last harrowing. Pay particular attention 
to raising a large number of carrots for stock, and for sale. In 
Philadelphia, they bring a high price. Carrot seed should be 
soaked twenty-four hours before using, and sowed thickly; they 
should afterward be thinned to six inches apart. 

3. Every farmer should make arrangements to plant at least one 
acre of strawberries, an acre of grapes, a half acre of blackberries, 
a half acre of raspberries, and a half acre of dwarf pear trees, 
together ^vith other fruits. These will pay a large profit. The 
The profit upon an acre of grapes has been estimated to be $500. 
Until these fruits bear, the land is cultivated to root crops. 

The best way to start a peach orchard, is to plant the stones in 
the open field ; in the fall, have the ground well cleared, and mark 
them with stakes ; plant them among good top-soil and earthy 
loam. This saves the danger of transplanting ; and they are less 
subject to disease. They will grow remarkably fast. Wheat, rye. 



22 

or grass should never be sown amongst peach-trees, as it destroys 
them ; but the ground must be cultivated in root crops. 

Broom-cokn. Every settler should raise at least one acre of 
broom-corn. It pays a very large profit to sell, and affords employ- 
ment to many families during the winter season. 

Houses. Build nothing to begin with that you will have to tear 
down, as it is bad economy. Make it either your house, or what 
will serve as an addition ; and do not commence anything larger 
than what you can thoroughly complete, and finish up with three 
coats of paint. By this means, your improvement will be no dis- 
credit to yourself or the place. Small lattice-work before the door 
and around the windows, for creeping vines, add much to value and 
beauty. A neat pleasant-looking place is also saleable at all times, 
should such be the desire. 

The Size of your Farm. Let it be of inch a size only, as you 
can most thoroughly cultivate. A small farm, well cultivated, pays 
better than a large place neglected. If, by placing the same ex- 
pense upon ten acres, you can raise the same amount of produce, 
you will make forty per cent, more profit, and have about one-half 
the trouble. 



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